Board Delays Vote on Health Director

The county’s Mental Health Advisory Board Wednesday night put off any discussion of the performance of Kathy Wachter-Poynor, the county’s director of mental health services.

The board, which had been asked by one member to vote “no confidence” in Wachter-Poynor, instead referred the matter to its executive committee to determine how best to handle the issue.

One question the executive committee was asked to address was whether the board could meet in closed session to discuss Wachter-Poynor’s performance.

Tom Montgomery, a deputy county counsel, told the advisory board that it could meet privately because discussion of Wachter-Poynor would be a “personnel matter.” The state’s open meeting law permits such matters to be discussed in closed session.